


There's More Ways Over the Rainbow

by AdmirableMonster (Mertiya)



Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Elrond deserves good things, Father-Son Relationship, First Meetings, Gen, M/M, Post-Canon, Reembodiment, Reunions, Treat Fic, Worldbuilding: Rebirth of the Noldorin Exiles, background russingon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:08:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27176357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mertiya/pseuds/AdmirableMonster
Summary: Elrond sails to Valinor.  He doesn't know if anyone will be there to welcome him, but someone is.
Relationships: Elrond Peredhel & Fingon | Findekáno, Elrond Peredhel & Maglor | Makalaurë
Comments: 20
Kudos: 90
Collections: Innumerable Stars 2020





	There's More Ways Over the Rainbow

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lferion](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lferion/gifts).



> title from "You can always go home" by Cosy Sheridan

The hills of Valinor seemed high and almost frightening.Elrond stood at the side of the little boat, with Frodo beside him.They had spent a great deal of time together on the passage over, most of it in silence.Elrond felt he had been quiet the whole time.Everything had been quiet and distant; the calm in the wake of the storm.

A familiar, beautiful voice rose in haunting song near the prow of the ship, and Elrond did smile at that.“Lindir” had spent an inordinate amount of time over the past days—months even—singing silly songs as Elrond paced and worried and planned.And now as he simply paced and worried. No matter how much Elrond had lost, he would forever be grateful that he had not lost everything. 

Still.He gazed down at the clear water and found himself wondering in a rather maudlin way how many times the tears he and his family had shed over the past millennia could have filled this beautiful ocean.Bright, glittering fish darted about, and the sun was shining softly, but the only feeling inside Elrond’s chest was a queer kind of tight loneliness.No matter how many times he told himself that they had been triumphant in the end—it did not seem to matter.It did not seem to him, even, that it was worth it.

Frodo looked up at him with a sideways, crooked smile.“I think I know what you are feeling,” he said quietly.“Gandalf has told me that it should ease, at least, but it may take some time.”

Elrond did not bother trying to force a smile.The little Hobbit was wise enough that he would have seen right through it, in any case.“I think what is strange is that I do not even know if I want it to?” he said thoughtfully, after a moment.

“We have lived so long with fear and sorrow that it seems to give them up would be to give up a part of ourselves?”

Elrond nodded.“You put it well, Ring-bearer.”He shifted.“We are almost there,” he said, shading his eyes and watching the green shore approach.“I find that I am afraid, once again.”

“What is it you fear?” Frodo asked, his dark eyes sympathetic.

“I am not entirely certain,” Elrond admitted.“I think—”Flashes of blond hair; red hair; dark hair—he shivered.“I am afraid of who is waiting for me.Or—” he swallowed thickly, “Or of who is not.”

“I suppose it must be very different for you,” Frodo agreed.“I am afraid, as well, but I suppose I am the first of my loved ones to sail, not the last.”

Elrond pulled the little Hobbit close against him, and together they watched as the shore neared, and the white crying gulls swirled in great arcs overhead.

There was a great crowd waiting for the ships, and it made Elrond go even quieter.“Will you be all right?” he asked Frodo.

“I think so,” Frodo said sweetly.“My uncle will tell you that dealing with a horde of overeager Elves is nothing compared to the Sackville-Bagginses,” and Elrond had to laugh at that. 

“Very well,” he said.“I’m sure Gandalf will be getting you settled, but if you need my help, do not hesitate to ask.”He was edging towards the gangplank as he spoke.

“We will be fine.Go on,” Frodo said, making shooing motions.“Find whoever it is you are looking for.”

Lindir was waiting for him, with the same vibrating tension in his shoulders, the same lurking fear in his eyes.Perhaps more fear.“Hush,” Elrond told him.“Gandalf and Galadriel know you are here.It will be fine.”

Those slim fingers ruffled his hair as if he were still a tiny child.“Do not try to comfort thy ancient—relative,” Lindir told him.“I will be fine.”The two of them went down to the dock together, where they were suddenly swallowed up by excited, chattering Elves.Elrond’s heart dropped, and dropped further when none of them were the faces he looked for.A pained lump began to grow in his throat.

“Elrond!” called an unfamiliar voice.“Elrond—to me!”Beside him, Lindir stiffened and made a small, soft noise.He started to try to move away, but Elrond caught his wrist and dragged him as he instinctively headed towards whoever was calling.

It was a short, dark nér with his black hair twisted and threaded with gold that sparkled in the sunlight.Elrond frowned, because that gold looked so strangely familiar, but he could not place it until Lindir, at his side, gasped out almost inarticulately, “ _Finno_ ,” and Elrond realized where he had seen those golden ribbons before—wound around the stump of his other father’s missing hand. 

“Fingon…?” he breathed.

Findekáno Astaldo Nolofinwion smiled broadly as he came over to take Elrond’s hand, and then his eyes flickered over to Lindir, and his eyes widened.“ _Ma—_ ”

“Lindir,” Lindir said hurriedly.“At least here.Finno—how—”

“First let me greet the son I have never met,” Fingon said.“Elrond Peredhel.”

“S-Son?” Elrond echoed, feeling suddenly small and young and fearful, but simultaneously as if a great burden that he had been carrying through all his memory had been lifted.

Fingon pulled him into a backbreaking hug, and he was suddenly surrounded with a warm, loving presence that he had almost— _almost_ —known as a child.“Your father, your wife, and your lover sent me,” he said, quietly.“None of them felt as if they could face this—rather tumultuous crowd.”He pulled Elrond back by his shoulders, and Elrond felt once again like a little child, as the once High King of the Noldor squeezed them and gave him a great, broad smile, the gold glittering in his hair.

“Then—” A sob choked Elrond’s throat.“Then Celebrían, Gil-galad—” he paused.“A-At—”

“ _Nelyo is here?_ ” Lindir’s voice usually musical voice cracked.

Fingon nodded.“And you, _Lindir_ , are an un-looked-for blessing.”

“I—” Elrond reached out and took his father’s hand, pulling him close as well.All three of them were laughing as they cried.“ _Oh_ —oh—I will _see_ them again—I did not think I would ever—” He was incoherent.

“I did not either,” whispered Lindir.

“Well, you shall,” Fingon said fiercely.“Thank you, cousin, for taking such care of my son.”He paused.“Our son, I suppose,” he laughed.“An unusual parenting situation.”

_My son._ Elrond burrowed into the warmth, taking steadying breaths for another few moments before he looked up.“Can we go immediately?” he asked.“I find I cannot be patient for another moment.I must see them.I must.My own sons will be along as well, soon—I believe they were helping Glorfindel and Erestor—we were not certain we would be greeted at all, much less by—”His own voice cracked.

“I will find them,” Fingon told him firmly.“For now, let’s get you out of this crowd.”

He steered Lindir and Elrond along the grass and tucked them away in the shade of a spreading tree, and they waited until he returned swiftly with Elladan and Elrohir in tow.“Now then, come along, there are enough horses for all of us.”

They rode away swiftly—this last leg of the journey was both swift and longer than all the rest of it put together, but eventually Fingon led them to a little house up in the mountains, explaining, “This is where Russo and I live, but the rest of your family has come to join us for this joyous day.”He leapt swiftly down off his horse, and three figures came out under the bright light of the Sun, one with red hair, one with black, one with gold.

Elrond gasped and half-tumbled off his horse.He heard Elladan and Elrohir crying out, “Ammë!”He heard Lindir sobbing.He had no time for any of it, nothing but the arms waiting for him.

He had waited long enough.


End file.
